Recent vintage
E-bay find: 1 gross (144 leads) boxes of
Alvin Constant 5019G Vocational Quality refill drawing leads (2 X 130 mm/ 5" long) in
F and
2H grades. Made in Germany.
While drawing these test doodles on a
Strathmore Visual Journal with vellum bristol pages, I noticed some "unevenness" or "rough spots" while hatching with these hard leads. Every once in awhile the lead tip would feel slightly scratchy and produced lighter marks. I suspect the graphite and clay particles might not be as finely ground as in professional grade leads resulting in harder bits been scattered through each drawing lead. The effect is subtle and beginners might not be as put off by this quirk as I was (in case you haven't noticed I can be rather picky about the performance of my drawing tools ;)).
Final verdict: Adequate performance yet slightly coarser than modern
German and
Japanese professional grade drafting leads. Suitable for classroom use and rough sketches (specially the
F leads which are darker than your average
F lead
) , but I would probably still choose smoother
Mitsubishi Uni leads over these
Alvin 5019 student grade leads as my default
sketching lead.
Recent vintage E-bay find: 1 gross (144 leads) boxes of Alvin Constant 5019G Vocational Quality refill drawing leads (2 X 130 mm/ 5" long) in F and 2H grades. Made in Germany.
While drawing these test doodles on a Strathmore Visual Journal with vellum bristol pages, I noticed some "unevenness" or "rough spots" while hatching with these hard leads. Every once in awhile the lead tip would feel slightly scratchy and produced lighter marks. I suspect the graphite and clay particles might not be as finely ground as in professional grade leads resulting in harder bits been scattered through each drawing lead. The effect is subtle and beginners might not be as put off by this quirk as I was (in case you haven't noticed I can be rather picky about the performance of my drawing tools ;)).
Final verdict: Adequate performance yet slightly coarser than modern German and Japanese professional grade drafting leads. Suitable for classroom use and rough sketches (specially the F leads which are darker than your average F lead) , but I would probably still choose smoother Mitsubishi Uni leads over these Alvin 5019 student grade leads as my default sketching lead.
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